The bear has been gone for many years, but Alexandria has a relatively mild climate and the zoo was designed so that this enclosure was exposed to wind and rain but was also kept out of sunlight most of the time.
This photo shows a tiny fraction of the enclosure. The bear also had access at all times to its den, as well as ice-cold showers running throughout the day and a pool/moat (just below the bottom of this photo) to cool off in.
This is probably one of the better bear enclosures; as I've written above - it's not very small (this photo shows a small part of the enclosure); there was also a large moat and continuously running shaded showers which the bear would have access to at all times.
Alexandria, being on the Mediterranean coast, has a climate which is actually very similar to that of San Diego, and there are far hotter zoos which keep polar bears.
